Late Start & A Flat

This morning I farted around for much longer than I should have looking for a direction to head on my road bike. I should know better by now that the best thing to do is put my gear on and go. Otherwise I will go back and forth for hours trying to determine exactly where I want to go.

Yesterday was great because I just sorta left the house and played it all by ear. If I felt like turning up a hill I turned, if I wanted to go just a little further down a road I did and so on. In the end I ended up with one of the longest rides that I have done on the road bike and mountain bike. I felt great afterward and was ready and raring to go again.

Today is much more of the same of course but once I start floundering around online the next thing I know is that 2 hours or more have past me by, it's getting hotter and hotter out and I am still not dressed and gone.

Daddy, Daughter Day

So yesterday was a lot of fun hanging out with Zoey all afternoon and into the late night. We had fun playing and singing, napping and going out back to learn about the trees, leaves, flowers and plants that are out there.

She was really good about taking her naps all day and I made sure to have a bottle ready for her to enjoy the moment she woke up from each and everyone of them. She tends to wake up extremely hungry most of the time so I like to take care of that and a diaper change as soon as possible so she is both clean and comfortable until it's nap time again and we start the routine again.

All-in-all l I had a really nice time spending the day with just her and I along with Oggy. I hope she enjoyed our bonding time together as well. My bet is that so long as she is not tired or hungry in the end that the bonding is always considered a success, whether with her daddy or another family member or even while at daycare with her teachers and the rest of her Little Lambs class.

Zoey is such a great spirited little girl, I love that about her so much and cant wait to see the person she grows to become. We love her so much that I can only speculate her great personality will grow even more, somehow and someway. From that cute little smile to her sounds, she is perfect.

F Is For Flat

So this afternoon after only 3 measly miles into my scorching HOT Sunday afternoon ride I noticed something did not feel quite right while I was climbing Cobra Jr., one of the many hills that I like to train on. I looked down while standing and pedaling and noticed that my front tire felt a little "squishy" and it looked kinda "squishy" as well. Obviously this is never a good thing and it was not today either. On the mountain bike it happens occasionally because I might run lower than normal tire pressures for traction, but on the road bike I want them to be as hard as possible - no squish.

I stopped at the top of the small climb, clipped out of my pedals and reached down to pinch my tire and what do you know - as expected no air. Thankfully when I was climbing I had noticed that it felt a little "squishy" and ended up having little to no air pressure. This of course meant that something had to have punctured my tire between the house and where I noticed it was flat. I am grateful that it made it the entire ride yesterday because I was so dam far from home. Plus today I had several large climbs which meant long and fast downhills, somewhere you do not want your tire to decide that it wants to go flat.

Oh well, I guess at least now I can go home and practice changing one of the dam things so in the future I am not stuck in the mud like today. That of course is only me looking at the bright side of the situation - seeing an opportunity to learn something from it. What else can I do? The funny thing, but not, is that yesterday and today are the ONLY 2 times I have NOT taken a spare tube and air with me on the rides. Doesn't it just figure it would work out that way?

Don't misunderstand, I do know how to change a tire / fix a flat as I have had my share of flats in my day as well as had to mount my own kart tires for over 8 years. Same with my dirt bikes, I did all of my own tires whenever possible so bike tires are pretty dam easy although some can be a little stubborn if they are an extremely rigid rubber as well as certain brands can be a little bit more of a pain in the ass as well to get on the rim.

Back Home

So I am writing this now that I am back home after Cicely and Zoey came to my rescue with the car. Thank all that is good that I decided to not go all the way to the south side of town and start from there, head out to the extreme far south and then loop back again to the starting point. A really nice ride that comes in at 20 to 39 miles depending on the route that you take.

This is one of those rides that I would really like to do in the near future, and possibly this year before the summer months have all faded away. But at the same time, it's one of those rides that really requires you to start riding the early part of the day, something more along the lines of 6 or 7 in the morning. That's about the only way to be able to miss the heat as well as the traffic and wind. The area that it goes out to and then loops back from is known for crazy cross-winds during the summer - something you don't want to deal with in your car much less on a ultra-light bike! They close the road all the time to trucks and trailers as well as tall vehicles because they easily blow over. Yea it really does get that gusty and strong out in that area.

Melt, Melt Away

I think that will have to do it for today. I am going to cool down a little bit and enjoy the air conditioned house for an hour or so and chow down a chocolate dipped vanilla drumstick ice cream cone on the 100+ degree day. I may still try to get a little bit more of a ride in this evening once it cools down and after getting the tire repaired. It all depends on how I feel at that point in the day.

As it sits right now, Cicely and Zoey as well as Oggy are all laying down in the bedroom for a nice summers day nap - smart! Something I should probably be doing but I have to register for school today. Yea I have had a nice few weeks away from it, but it's back again - only one or so a month until I am done. Although I wont fully be finished until the week before Thanksgiving! That just seems so far away and it is! No matter, gotta stick with it and get 'er done, right?

School

My next class with be this coming Friday and it will be up at the main campus which is a little bit of a pain in the ass because Cicely has to take me up there and drop me off as well as come pick me up in the afternoon when class is out. Sure I could drive myself but finding parking up there is a nightmare and the easy spots are hard to get beause there are only a handful or so.

Anyway, so yea - for the rest of today I have to get the tire fixed and try to get a few other things done. Otherwise before I know it, it will be Monday and back at it again with the work week.

Cube Mates

Tomorrow I have to be in early because I have a few more interviews to take care of in the morning and then 1 or 2 in the afternoon - all of which are great candidates based on me knowing them, their resume and so on. I hope to get in a quick workout as well if I can manage to wing it, but if not my plan is to scoot out of work at a decent time, come home and pedal around for an hour or so to make up for sitting on my ass in meetings and interviews all day.

Blow Away

With that I hope your weekend has been going well and you are rested up and ready for the coming week. I think for a lot of us, not matter how rested we are, we are rarely 100% "ready" for the week. It's just human nature to want to be in the comfort of our homes and with those that we love and care about vs. being at work. Heck even when we really enjoy what we do, it's still always a lot better (in my opinion anyway) to be at home.

Photo: One of my cool new road bike jersey graphics. This one is sleeveless as well so I can get some sun on the upper part of my white-boy arms! I did not get to wear my jersey for very long because of my flat tire. I hope that the jersey is not bad luck ha ha. If so I guess I will be able to better determine that my next ride out. I am not overly superstitious so I am sure it's just fine and as awesome as it looks.